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Bathroom Remodel (done-ish!)

 

 

 

 

We're on the home stretch of the bathroom remodel with just one little leak keeping us from being done. We now have a new, working shower. The old, nasty, paint-peeling tub is gone!

 

The floors had to be replaced since all the plumbing was replaced. In the end, I didn't mind because I love the new floor.

And I'm glad that we found a little extra money to replace the vanity top (we kept the actualy vanity), because the new granite is beautiful!

The best part is that the plumbing is no longer leaking through the floor and into the ceiling of the foyer below. (But I'm sure you don't really want to see a photo of a plain white ceiling.)

Bathroom Remodel (try #2)

Five years ago, we went through a bathroom remodel. This may not sound that trying, but when you really only have one bathroom (plus a mini powder room that was added to the top of the basement stairs at some point and a scary pseudo bathroom in the basement), it's a pain. In the end, it looked much nicer than the before photos.

However, the guy who did the remodel was probably not as qualified as he should be. Here is the ceiling of the foyer on the first floor, which sits directly below the bathroom...

The last guy who remodeled the bathroom also talked us into painting our tub. DO NOT PAINT YOUR TUB! Seriously. It started getting awful stains and then it started peeling. Total disaster.

So, this time we are going with the guy who did our kitchen remodel. (Before and after.) New tub, new flooring, most likely a bunch of new plumbing, and more. Since we had to tear everything out to get at the plumbing problems, we are also putting in a new granite vanity top. The marble top we bought last time was cheap and was already badly etched and stained. Lesson learned.

Here is the granite slab that will become the new vanity top:

More inspiration on my Pinterest board!

My yard is so sunny now

Trees, trees, trees. I've lost track of how many they have cut out of our yard this past week. I know there were at least 7, but if you throw in all the little ones here and there, it's probably over a dozen. And then there is the pruning! So, much pruning. 

A hard winter and an Emerald Ash Borer infestation in a huge part of the US and Canada, has taken it's tole on our yard. I'm sitting here with the windows open on a gorgeous Spring (nearly Summer!) day, and my ears are being assaulted by the sound of chainsaws.

Glad we planted a couple of apple trees earlier this Spring, although the 2 dwarf trees will hardly make up for what we lost. And thank goodness, mama Robin decided to nest in the lilacs, and not one of the trees!

Selling Stuff -- a New Year's Resolution

So, one of my New Year's resolutions was to sell some of the stuff that is taking up space in our spare room (aka "the den").  To that end, I have started listing things here and there.  The first thing I came across was a package of these awesome Valentines from the 40's and 50's that I purchased a while back at an estate sale.  I have more than enough for my own collection, so I listed about half of them in my etsy shop.  Since I love my blog visitors, I wanted to give you a coupon good for free shipping on these lovelies.  Just enter FREESHIP during checkout.

I also listed some things at my Amazon.com bookstore -- Booga Books -- one item being the first issue of Lucky Peach magazine.  To my delight, this $10 magazine sold for a whopping $75!  And in only a couple of days.  Sure wish I had bought about 10 copies of that magazine when it was on the newsstand. 

How are your New Year's resolutions coming along?

A little quilting...

I finally finished up piecing the top of this little log cabin quilt.  Now I need to find some backing fabric, and determine if the two fat quarters I have will be enough for the binding. 

Other things I've been doing:

Making granola -- I don't think I ever posted my new and improved granola recipe.  Maybe tomorrow.

Eating Chocolate -- specifically Vosges Holiday Truffles.  See my review at the Chocolate Blog.

Sprucing up the house.  Went to IKEA and got some new things like this Matisse print for the vacant dining room wall.

I've also been reading, baking and watching too much Battlestar Galactica.  Thank you Netflix.

The Joys of Owning an Old House

Why yes, the inside of our garage is seafoam green.

"What's that?"  You say?  Well, it just happens to be the old mechanical something-or-other under the old, rotting boards on the floor of the garage.  We only know of this because Saturday our daughter heard weird sounds coming from the garage floor.  At first we thought she was trying to joke with us, but upon entering the garage there was no mistaking the sounds of rushing water.

Strange steampunk creations below the garage floorboards.

Pete pried up a few of the boards and we saw that a pipe was spewing water into the weird space under the garage.  As the water level rose, we all started to panic a bit.  Pete got into the nasty, mucky water and found a valve which -- thank goodness -- shut off the water, but... wait for it... it also shut off all the water to our house.  Argh!

Weird pressure gauge down in the garage pit.

So, an emergency plumber was called.  Said emergency plumber was fired upon not showing up and another emergency plumber was called, and now we once again have water.  Why there is a shut off for our water under the garage, I do not know.  The joys of living in an old house.

 

Photo Blogging

The past two weeks have been crazy, with wrapping up the kitchen remodel and trying to put the house back together.  This leaves little time to blog, but I have snapped a few photos...

Almost there!

The kitchen remodel can't be done soon enough for me.  I'm ready to move in and start cooking and baking again! 

The appliances are in, but not working yet, although the plumber and electrician are both here now, so I have hope that things will be working later today!

The handles are on the cabinets and drawers, and I can't wait to start moving in all my kitchen stuff which is currently piled up in the sun room.  I'm especially excited about the tall pantries over on this side of the kitchen.  Our old pantry was basically a broom cabinet retrofitted with shelves.  It will be nice to have something more functional.

Spike is already checking things out -- perhaps admiring the new floor, which we love!  The tiler was great and did a wonderful job on the floor and backsplash.  In fact, all the people who worked on the kitchen remodel were great!  I would highly recommend my GC to anyone in the area -- Dean Hambry Carpentry.

Of course there are bit and pieces that need to be finished up -- including a missing hinge which means yet another trip to IKEA (ack!), but I'm thinking that I'll be cooking corned beef and cabbage for St. Patty's Day in my kitchen next week and that makes me happy!

Kitchen Progress -- about 1 week to go!

The kitchen remodel is nearly complete -- cabinets are mostly hung, appliances are all delivered and we have working light switches!  I believe the granite is coming tomorrow, which should really complete the look, so I'm excited to see that.

We have had a few bumps along the way, but nothing too serious, or too costly.  Mostly just annoying and time consuming -- like the wrong box of tile being delivered, two missing items from our IKEA order (and an extremely unhelpful "customer service" manager at the IKEA in Bolingbrook), and a range back splash that was warped, etc.  You always hear that you should plan for 10% over your budget, but with the little extras here and there, I don't think we even came close to that.

 
One of my fears was that the island would be too big for the kitchen, but it looks like it will work just fine and be very functional -- no more walking across the room to drain pasta (which was a challenge with too old cats underfoot and a child and husband milling about!)

The back splash, counters, light fixtures, trim and doors/door handles will be going in this week, so I'll post more photos at the finish!

We have walls (or almost)

The dry wall is going up!  Since my last kitchen post things have been progressing at a crazy quick pace.  We have: lighting, new windows, subfloor, plumbing and electrical roughed in, radiant flooring, insulation and lots of other things that I probably don't realize are part of remodeling a kitchen.

Okay, so it's just subflooring, but it's exciting for me, so here is a photo for future reference.  The floor tile has been ordered and faucets arrived in the mail yesterday.  Even though it's Saturday, the crew is here installing more stuff (dry wall related, I believe), so I'm sure I'll have even more exciting pictures (what, you didn't find subfloor interesting?) soon.

IKEA was here...

... and their delivery men do not like me.  Getting the IKEA fridge into the house was quite a challenge for them (thank goodness our contractor was here to remove doors and such), especially after they delivered 250-some other boxes. 

It's difficult to express in photos the magnitude of the delivery.  Our dining room is completely filled -- almost to overflowing.

In other news, our first inspection is tomorrow and then I guess they put in the insulation and we have another inspection.  After that the drywall can start going up -- like by the end of the week (fingers crossed).  We're going to have a kitchen before we know it!

Getting to the Fun Part of the Kitchen Remodel

Yesterday we spent a good part of the day looking at the finishes for the kitchen.  The first stop was the granite place, where we decided on this lovely slab of Crema Bordeaux granite -- actually two sister slabs, which is good since we have a big island in the kitchen plan that will use most of one slab.

Then off to the tile place, where we decided on this colorful porcelain tile.  We decided to put a lot of color and pattern into the floor and counter top because the cabinets and backsplash are going to be white.  You can also see the paint swatch in this photo, although the color is a bit off.  (The color is Butterfly Wing from Freshaire.)

Things are moving along.  The radiant flooring was installed yesterday and the city inspectors should be here this week.  After that the walls and flooring can be installed and things will really start happening! 

Snow Day!

Here's a view out the upstairs window in the den last night at the height of the storm when it was so blustery that the snow was going through the screen and sticking to the windows.  At one point we experienced thundersnow (okay, my spell checker says that's now a word, but my weathermen say otherwise).

During our snow day, I plan to read, drink hot cocoa and hunker down. 

It's crazy quiet here since the people working on the kitchen also took a snow day, but they've been working hard since I last posted an update.  In fact...

... the walls, ceiling and even the tile on the floor are gone.  I'm so happy the demo is nearly complete.  They kept down the dust by sealing off the doorways, but it was still noisy and messy.

I also started ordering some of the finishes for the kitchen, but I fear I'm getting ahead of myself since at this point I don't even have walls.  More on that later.

Kitchen Demo -- Day 1

We made it through the first day of kirchen demo!  Yes, I did need a drink by the end of the day, but I think that's to be expected. We somehow made it through school despite the noise, so that's something.

The ancient metal cabinets are gone -- and frankly, I'm surprised.  I mean, if I were to attempt to remove them, I'm pretty sure it would take me at least a day to get one of them out, so the fact that they are all gone is just wild!

They did things differently back in the day -- can you see the "tile" in this photo?  It's actually not tile at all, but rather a skim coat on the paster that has been imprinted to look like tile. 

Today the ceilling is coming down -- thank goodness we're going out to a wine bar tonight for my Mom's birthday!  I think I'll be needing another drink.

Temporary Kitchen

I am not a spontaneous person.  I love my usual daily schedule and planning is totally my thing.  So, needless to say, a kitchen remodel causes much stress in my life.  And that's before you throw in the fact that Maddie and I have celiac disease and cannot eat any gluten (wheat, rye, barley, etc...), thus severely limiting our carry out options.

As I said, I am a planner, so the temporary kitchen -- which I hoped would give us some semblance of normalcy -- was a top priority.  As I packed up the kitchen, certain key items were squirreled away in the den in anticipation of the impending havoc.  The espresso machine was a no brainer -- I must have my morning latte.  I'm happy to report that for the past two days, I've had a latte prepared in the den and it has worked out beautifully.

An old dresser makes a nice microwave stand and prep space.  Pete joked that this "kitchen" has more counter space than some of his previous apartments.  I'm not a huge fan of microwaves, but without a range, I'm sure it will prove quite useful.

Over on the opposite side of the room, you can see several of the purchases I made.  First is the mini fridge -- on sale for $100.  It was a total splurge, but I'm so happy I bought it.  It holds milk, OJ, butter and a few other things that I don't want to be running downstairs into the construction zone to obtain.  I also purchased some washtubs and a dish rack since we'll have to be doing the cleaning up here or in the bathroom.  And finally there is a rice cooker.  We eat lots of brown rice, so I figured this would be a good investment and chose it over a crock pot.

So there you have it -- a cozy little upstairs kitchen.  It's been a great help to us already and I'm glad I got it up and running before the demo began -- it seriously makes life easier and less stressful.

Preparaing for a Kitchen Overhaul

The kitchen is being gutted tomorrow and I'm frightened!  We never thought the kitchen remodel would be taking place this year, but due to a windfall that was completely unexpected, we were able to move it up several years.  While that aspect is exciting, the idea of being without a kitchen for at least a month -- especially since we are still learning to live gluten free -- is distressing.  And if you've been through a major renovation before, I'm sure you can appreciate the noise,mess and dust -- my god, the dust! -- that we are about to endure.

Our kitchen is badly in need of this overhaul for a number of reasons, including the fact that the cabinets are about 60-70 years old.

Except for these, which I think may have been added in the 70's.  You can see the insides are a green color -- the rest of the cabinets are pinkish-brown under the (badly chipping) paint.

 
Obviously the dishwasher was an afterthought, as it juts out into the kitchen on an angle.  Behind it is the only radiator.  The room, by the way, is uninsulated.  Taking a plate out of the cabinet in winter, you can feel the icy chill that seeps through the walls.  It will be amazing to have insulation, new windows and a radiant floor, all of which should transform the room into a much cozier place.

Oh yes, the lighting.  Inadequate and ugly.  I can't wait to have recessed lighting and some well placed pendants -- not to mention the luxury of under cabinet lighting.

I could go on about the problems with the current kitchen, but I think you get the picture.  It is time for a change, and we are very fortunate to have the ability to get it done now.

Tomorrow I share pics of my temporary kitchen which I've set up in the upstairs den.  Fun times!

 

Kitchen Remodel

When we moved into this house, we knew the kitchen would have to be redone at some point in the (hopefully) near future -- that was about 6 years ago and the time has come.

The cabinets are metal and were probably installed in the 40's or 50's, and while the last owner re-painted them (they were a pale, rosy-brown color originally), the paint did not stick to the metal very well and they are looking pretty awful.

When we attempted to replace the ancient (and nasty) wall oven, we discovered that they didn't make one small enough for the opening.  This led to the cave like opening and resulted in the purchase of a range that sits next to the existing electric cooktop. 

More photos of our current kitchen are over here.

So, it's time to rip it all out and start fresh.  We have decided on IKEA cabinets, which I've found get great reviews -- even better than pricier cabinets -- and cost a good deal less.  The new floor plan includes an island, which will be a nice change, and since we are saving money on the cabinets and also some appliances (IKEA fridge, dishwasher and microwave) I'm putting the money we save into a fancy range.  (Anyone have a Wolf?  GE Monogram?  Electrolux or Electrolux IKON?)

I'm excited, but nervous -- it's a big investment, but very much needed.  Plus, I know the actual destruction and construction will probably be hellish.  I'm already planning my temporary kitchen which I'm going to set up in the dining room.

Any tips on kitchen remodeling?  Things you love about your kitchen?  Things you wish you had done when you remodeled?  We are pretty much going down to the studs, so this is my chance to make any and all changes and I welcome ideas and input!

 

Feeling Blah...

A family friend died suddenly this past week -- she was only 59.  She worked with my dad years ago and our families became quite close.  I remember many weekends spent at their house when we were growing up.

In addition, allergies are hitting out household pretty hard and the lingering summer heat is feeling harsh after the reprieve we had earlier in the week.

This weekend (other than attending a wake, which is never good) we are attempting a little home DIY to repair some water damage in the front hall ceiling.  I'm thinking that a margarita will be in order this evening.  Wouldn't you say?

I installed a faucet!!!

The Room-a-Month Challenge is not dead!  (Are you still working on your rooms?)  In fact, over the weekend I removed our old kitchen faucet and installed a new one.  Me!  (With some help from my reluctant assistant, Pete.)

Paralyzed with indecision, I put off calling the plumber for weeks -- mostly because I wanted to tackle the install myself, but was afraid to do it.   I had visions of water flooding the kitchen -- nightmares, really.  In the end, there was some water, and a few problems, but it all worked out in the end and we didn't even have to make a trip to the hardware store.  They really do make these newer faucets simple to install. 

Lately I've been trying to challenge myself to do things I haven't done before, and completing this task successfully has encouraged me.  Who knows what I'll do next?

A Room A Month -- February: The Kitchen

Our kitchen has some major issues -- 1940's metal cabinets, badly tiled over 1970's counter tops, weird appliance issues, etc.  When we redo it for keeps, we are going to have to tear it down to the studs and rip out the floor -- can you say pricey?  So we have been redoing the rest of the house and saving this room for last (you know, after we win the lottery or whatever.)

The first two photos are of the northern wall.  Perhaps you can see the gas range and the electric cooktop side by side here.  Yeah.  I do have 8 burners, but that wasn't the plan.  (I'll get to the reason for that later.)  There is pretty much no usable counter space on this wall, but I'm not sure I can do much about that.

 

Moving clockwise around the room, we are now facing east.  There is a nice big window, but the desk cuts into the available counterspace (and mostly collects junk and piles of bills.)  I'd like to tidy this space and make it more organized.  Especially the "beverage center":

 

This is the espresso machine and tea area.  Right now it's neatened up a bit, but things tend to expand out of control.  More storage to contain the mess would be a good idea.

 

Facing south we see the biggest expanse of countertop, which is where I end up doing most of my food prep, baking, etc.  The sink and dishwasher jut out into the room at an odd angle because there is a radiator back behind them.  In this photo you can also see the odd cave-like structure in the room...

This is the reason I have a cooktop and a range.  When we moved in, there was an *ancient* wall oven in this space, we went to the appliance shop and purchased the smallest possible oven, but when they came to install it, it didn't fit.  I purchased a piece of MDF and cut it to fit (the bottom was originally open to the drawer below) but that's as far as I got.  Something must be done with this junk collecting space.

Facing west, you see a bank of cabinets -- probably installed in the 70's.  They are metal and wood and have seen better days.  I want to remove the trim and paint these.

 

One small project will be to replace the old leaky faucet with the broken hot water handle.  We already purchased a new faucet and I just have to phone the plumber to have it installed.

And the old laundry chute door needs two tiles replaced and a new hinge.  Pete is on the job and thinks he can get this done this weekend.

So, what can I do with this space?  Well, I don't want to do too much because our plan is to rip it out and replace *everything* in the next five years.  A little paint, some organization and perhaps a new microwave are on the agenda.  Any suggestions on what I can do with the oven cave?

A Room A Month -- Dining Room Done (sort of...)

This might not look all that different from the before picture, but I'm very happy with the results of our efforts.

Things we did accomplish:

1. New paint color -- This was by far the most daunting task, especially in the winter when you can't open up the house for ventilation.  The VOC free paint was excellent and the new color is exactly what I wanted.  I'm happy every time I walk into the room and see it.
2. Baker's rack gone, bookshelf added -- My cookbooks have a happy new home and are so much more organized and easy to access.  I love the Expedit from IKEA and will probably be purchasing more of them in the future.
3. Dimmer switch fixed -- This was fixed, then broken, then fixed again.  Duct tape was used, and for now it works.

The new, low shelving means that a large piece of artwork is needed on the south wall of the room.  And I didn't get curtains purchased or the chairs recovered, but all things considered, I'm happy with what we were able to do in a month, especially since one weekend was taken up with packing away holiday decorations.  I may actually put the dining room back into the rotation so that I can finish the things I still want to do.  Maybe in the second half of the year.

Up next is the kitchen, which is by far the most unfinished room in our house.  No, we won't be doing a remodel, but I think fixing up the little annoying things might make it work for the next few years until we save up for that task.

Don't forget to leave me links to your "after" photos of your January room and "before" photos of your February room.  I can't wait to see them!

A Room A Month -- Painting Done!

Yesterday afternoon we decided to start painting and things went so smoothly that we finished by dinner time (which was a margarita and some TJ's Chili Lime Cashews for me).  We didn't run out of paint, or have any spills... no injuries or falls off the ladder... it was probably my best painting experience to date.

The no VOC paint (Freshaire from HD) went on very splotchy, as you can see from this photo.  We feared a second coat would be necessary, but it dried into a beautiful even finish with just the one coat -- nice.

When I chose the paint color, I was worried it might be too similar to the color we had -- the color I did not like at all -- but when I started edging, I could see everything would be alright.  We keep walking through the room and commenting on how much we like the color, so it's a winner.

No more pictures today.  I'll save those for the after post next week.  How are your rooms coming along?

Weekend Recap -- Revolutionary Road and IKEA

Over the weekend we watched Revolutionary Road because we are cheap and lazy. Okay, perhaps that's a bit harsh.  In fact, it was free on demand and we hadn't seen it yet.

As it turns out, Revolutionary Road was an excellent movie and very thought provoking. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it (but it's not a cheery movie, so if you are looking for something upbeat and light, look elsewhere.)

Then yesterday it was off to IKEA to find a cookbook tamer for the dining room. We ended up getting the Expedit in black-brown because it can be positioned horizontally and thus hopefully look more like a sideboard. And if we do eventually find a (real) sideboard we like, the Expedit can be moved into another room -- specifically the family room where we have 3 tables in the same finish (or colorway -- as the knitter in me wanted to type there.)

Paint was also purchased, so I expect to see some real progress on the dining room by the end of this week.

A Room A Month -- Dining Room List

So now that I chose the dining room for January, I suppose I should reveal the trouble spots I plan to address.

This is a view into the sun porch, where 4 of the 5 chairs reside.  Two of them have no seat at all and 2 have severely damaged seats.  The other one is in the dining room and does have a seat, but it's covered in some fake leatherette:

 

It's the one on the right.  The chair on the left is an old desk chair that has followed Pete around, probably since childhood and it really shouldn't even be in the dining room.  Plan of action:  remove one chair, have remaining chairs reupholstered.

Next -- cookbook collection storage.  Right now an old baker's rack holds the books, but does a very poor job of it.  This needs to be removed (and sold in the garage sale) and replaced with a nice bookcase.

We also need curtains and a new curtain rod.  The current rod is screwed right into the trim -- not good.  We don't need much privacy here, so I'll probably just get two panels and forget about any kind of blinds or shears for now.

This is one of the small fixes I was talking about.  The plastic knob on the dimmer fell off *every* time you turned on the light in this room -- so annoying!  Pete took the dimmer apart and found that instead of replacing it, he could just pry the metal prongs apart a bit and the knob fit snugly.  One problem solved!

This photo also illustrated another issue -- paint color.  When I chose this paint color it was under difficult circumstances.  All the furniture from half the first floor was shoved in the dining room because we were getting hardwood floors installed.  I had to make the decision at night, while crawling over furniture.  The paint is sage green and I was going for olive.  Fortunately, the trim. paneling and ceiling were all painted at the time the sage color was done, so we just have to paint over the green part.  I already chose the color -- Freshaire no VOC in Terrarium -- an olive-y khaki color. 

And then there's the light fixture.  Ugh,  I think it might be original to the house (1920's), but the glass hurricanes appear to be much more recent (maybe 80's?)  So if I can find replacement glass that I like, this might be an easy fix.  I hate to replace the fixture if it is original.  Not to mention that Pete and I have talked about making this into a pool room in the future, in which case we would be replacing it with one of those pool table lights.  

Well, that should be more than enough to keep me busy this month in this room.

Remember to send me a link to your before photos!  I have already received a few, but I'll wait to post the list of links until Wednesday.

A Room A Month -- January Room Choice

I decided that I would go big in January and choose the dining room.  It's a room that we have done almost nothing to since moving into our home over 5 years ago.  Actually, I think all we did was have it painted and remove the heavy, dusty, faded curtains.

The room is quite open which makes it a little awkward.  There are two french doors opening onto the front hall, a swinging solid wood door opening on to the kitchen and two glass paned door opening onto the (unheated) sun porch -- not to mention the large radiator.

Since we rarely have dinner parties, the room is used mainly to house my growing cookbook collection (and boxes from holiday gifts, apparently.)

We do have a table -- an antique we picked up when we lived in Chicago, but the chairs... well, we'll get to that tomorrow.

So that's the before shots of my room for the month.  I'll be back tomorrow or Monday with some photos of the specific areas that I want to focus on in this room.  Since we've done little -- I'm thinking this just might be the most expensive and labor intensive room, so I thought I should start with it while I was all excited about the project.

What room are you going to tackle this month?  Post photos and leave me a comment -- I'll link to your posts so we can all have a look and encourage one another.

2010 Project -- A Room A Month

I've been wanting to do this for a while now, but our house was at a point where a room a year was more feasible. After over 5 years of work, I'm at a point where most of the major things are done (except for the kitchen) and I'm ready to attempt a year long project that has been in the back of my mind...

A Room A Month

(Note to self -- create pretty graphic.)

So here's where I'm coming from. . . Do you have little projects in each room that need attention?  Chipped paint on the trim, prints that need to be hung, door handles that need to be tightened, small repairs, cosmetic changes?  You know you do -- doesn't everyone?  So what I'm proposing is not that you make a huge list of the hundreds of little projects, but rather tackle them one room at a time. 

Are you in?  If so, my challenge for you today is to make a list of rooms.  Now, there are 12 months in a year, so I'm suggesting that you choose 12 rooms.  Don't have 12 rooms?  What about the front porch, back patio, garage, basement, hallway -- or split up a big room. 

Here's my list:

1. Office
2. Master Bedroom
3. Maddie's Room
4. Den
5. Bathroom
6. Dining Room
7. Kitchen
8. Living/Family Room
9. Sun Room
10. Little Eating Room
11. Powder Room
12. Front Hall

Rather than choosing the order right now, I think I'll decided which room is up next as I go. 

On the 1st, I'll be back with before photos of the room for January, along with a list of projects.  I'm hyped right now, but fear the excitement will ebb.  Perhaps some of you will join in and we can encourage each other!

Spare Room of Shame converted to Den

Here was the spare room as of Friday.  Yes, there was a lot of stuff in there.

Another view.  This past year we did a lot of culling -- especially in Maddie's room.  All the toys from when she was younger as well as outgrown clothes were deposited here.  In addition, an old computer desk, sewing table, twin bed and dresser took up a lot of space.  I planned on having a yard sale this past summer, but the summer is gone now and it never happened. 

Instead of leaving this room a mess until next summer, we took everything up to the attic.  (A walk-up, full size attic is one bonus of living in an old house!)

This left things much more manageable and the floor was visible by Saturday night.  Sunday morning there was much floor mopping & continued organization, as well as some IKEA assemblage.

Now we have a comfy place to sit, and a futon for overnight guests.  I do have a bit more organizing to do in here, but now I have space to work with and it all seems less daunting.

New TypePad -- not so hot

Well, I tried writing a post using the "new" TypePad and it did not work at all. I was having problems inserting an image -- then my post was eaten. Ugh.

At any rate, here is a photo of the table and chairs I put together earlier this week.  They are from IKEA and the table is perfect.  It fits really well in the room and has a leaf on one side that extends over the radiator -- so we can now use that previously unusable space.  This is so much better than the round table we had in here -- it just never fit comfortably. 

Anyone else having trouble with the "new" TypePad?  I played around with it a bit, before the crash, and didn't see al that much to be excited about.  What am I missing?

Bathroom Remodel Complete!

First a little "before" so you all know what we were dealing with:

You get the idea -- classic 50's.

Now for the after:

A view into the bathroom -- the vanity is black and the top is carrera marble.  The marble top was so much less expensive because they have them in stock at Lowes, but it took us four tries to get one that wasn't cracked.  I have to say that Lowe's had really excellent customer service through it all.

You know you wanted to see the fancy new toilet  :)

This is the marble floor and I'm so glad we went with marble.  We got it at Lowe's and it was just as cheap (cheaper actually) than a lot of the ceramic tile we saw.  If you get marble tiles though, make sure you buy extra!  Our remodeling guy said that 3 of them crumbled in his hands as he went to cut them.  Just the nature of natural stone, I guess.

Here's the tub that we had painted -- yes, painted.  It's non standard at 5 1/2 feet so painting it was out best option.  The professional tub painter used a super durable epoxy finish that took 7 days to dry but looks so nice and is really durable.  I have to say that going without a tub/shower for 7 days was a challenge -- thank goodness my Mom only lives a few blocks away!

Here I was trying to get a better photo of the tile in the tub area.  We went with the subway tile look and used 3" X 6" tiles in a staggered pattern.  I love how it turned out.  (And these are stock tiles that are really cheap!)

The only thing left to complete in the bathroom is the built-in linen closet.  The doors are on order and are due to arrive in about a week. 

Tom, who did the work for us, was great.  He's a perfectionist like me, so it worked out perfectly.  I have to say though, I'm really glad it's over.  Living with only a tiny powder room (and our powder room is tiny!) for about 5 weeks was a challenge.  I'm very glad that it is done.

Bathroom Remodel -- Before Photos

Well, we are remodeling the bathroom -- bringing it into the 21st century.  

As you can see -- the old color scheme is pure 50's.  Turquoise and a color I can't even name -- tan?  peach?  peachy, pinky, tan?  Ugh.  The sink and toilet (already removed) were both turquoise.

This was a wooden cabinet with an antique 50's style glass & metal medicine cabinet on top.  It's going to be completely ripped out and a linen closet will replace it..

And here's something interesting -- newspaper as building materials.  There is a double layer of newspaper between the tile and wall.  The only date I could see said 1956 -- so I guess that's the last time this bathroom was updated!

I have a vision for the finished room.  We'll see how close my vision comes to reality.  More photos as things progress!

Shelter from the cold

Each morning when I make my coffee, I look out the window at the birds. We have several bird feeders and thus are very popular with them this time of year. In addition, we have some thick evergreens which they love to take shelter in.

 

This morning it was extremely cold -- especially for out part of the world in mid-December.  The temp was in the single digits and the windchill made it about 10 below zero.  Brrrrr.  So the birds were huddled on the ledge of the porch which is south facing and probably radiates at least a little bit of heat on a sunny morning like this morning.

 

There were *many* visitors today, including one that hopped right up on the ledged of the kitchen window -- gone before I could snap a photo -- who seemed to be watching me make my latte. 

The Pergo Nearly Did Me In!

Remember last week when I mentioned the demolition?  Well, I spent a good portion of the week in that little room -- scraping, sanding, painting, painting, painting, cleaning and finally installing Pergo.  I thought I would get all of this done myself, but the painting took a lot out of me, so I waited until the weekend so that Pete could help me with the Pergo.

As a result of this project, I now own a saw!  Pete knew how excited I was to get it and let me make the cuts with it -- it was fun at first, but by the end the novelty was gone. 

Pete & I actually worked well together (somewhat surprising after the gas grill assembly debacle of 1999) and somehow finished the floor over the weekend.  We could have knocked this thing out in no time at all if it wasn't for that radiator.  Fitting the flooring around the 4 legs and 2 pipes was a nightmare. 

All that's left is some (more) paint touch up and the quarter round.  I'm feeling exhausted, but proud.

Who paints like this?

This past weekend was a soggy one.  In fact, there was a lot of flooding around where we live as it rained for three days straight -- by this I mean that it rained without stopping.  Being cooped up obviously drove me insane because I decided on the spur of the moment on Sunday morning that I was going to demo the "little eating room" as we refer to it.

I was a little late getting some "before" shots, but this is near the beginning of the demo.  The previous owner had built some rough benches around the perimeter of the room which covered this old green paint, the radiator and the floor where the linoleum is showing.  This bench was useless -- not comfortable for sitting and pretty ugly (it was fiberboard covered in wall paper and the top was composed of pieces of scrap wood and melamine.)  And since this isn't a large room to begin with, it alwyas felt cramped and those benches were part of the reason.

The bench was taken apart, old flooring was removed and the ugly, weird shelf above the windows was demo-ed.  After that  it was off to Home Depot for some paint, Pergo and I even purchased a saw!!  (More on that soon!)  Pete was very helpful with the demo and heavy lifting, but now I am left on my own this week to put back together what I have decided to destroy -- sometimes I think I've lost my mind!

Today has been about scraping and sanding in preparation for the paint.  Can you believe how sloppy the previous owners were when they painted? 

Backyard Project -- Done!

Well, after 5 days of destruction and construction, the backyard transformation is complete.  (If you want to see the before, I posted photos a couple weeks ago.)

View as you enter backyard.

To the left is the finished patio.

Including the rebuilt wall.

Looking out into the backyard you see the cedar, raised bed.

And in the back corner is the former koi pond -- now filled and planted.

The side path leading to the front yard.  New hemlocks block view of road.

The grass still needs to grow in, but I'm very pleased with how this turned out.  It is like we have a completely different yard -- it feels much larger, open and more useful for our family.

Excavation Has Begun

Well, a good portion of the backyard is now dirt and mud, but surprisingly it wasn't very noisy having all that concrete removed.

In fact, it was rather interesting watching them unearth the layers below the concrete.  There were patios below patios and walls built on top of walls.  You find crazy stuff when you start poking around in an old house.

This pile of sawdust is all that remains of the tree -- and those ugly yews were meant to go.  The entrance into the backyard is really opened up now.

Now instead of a stone path to the backyard, we have a tractor path.  I'm looking forward to seeing how this all comes together, because at this point it's really just a terrible mess!

Backyard Overhaul

So the tree removal was just step one in a major backyard overhaul.  After last fall and our big indoor remodeling project, I thought it would be a while before we started on something else, but our house had a different idea.  This Spring when the rains came water started coming into the basement.  Seeing little rivers on the basement floor freaked me out a bit and led to the next project.

No surprise here, one place where water was entering the basement was below this broken up sidewalk.  Which will be ripped out and replaced with pavers.

Quite a bit of water collects against the foundation here because the sidewalk has really dropped, as you can see in this photo.

There is a lot of concrete in this backyard -- a lot -- which is one reason this will be such a major project.  This is the patio -- which will be replaced with pavers and in the background you can see the collapsed wall.

Water is a major problem here again where two major drainpipes come together.  The water collapsed a retaining wall here which will be replaced.

Did I mention concrete?  Here is a big uneven and stained area smack dab in the middle of the yard which will be removed and replaced with a stepping stone walkway to the back gate and a raised bed made of cedar for my vegetable garden.  (yeah!)

 

There is an stained & broken fence that separates the driveway from the backyard which will be removed.  This will give the big, old lilacs more light which should help them to fill out and be a natural screen.

And we can't forget the ancient, cracked, half filled in koi pond which now holds broken branches and weeds.  It will be partially removed and filled in with dirt. 

And since we'll already have the work crew here, I'm having them remove this yew and the broken mailbox and flag pole which will have to be replaced.

Whew!

Not everything in the backyard is a loss though.  My flower garden, which I see from the window in the kitchen, is looking quite nice!  We planted it a few years ago after moving to this house and it has finally filled out.  In fact, I think this fall will see us splitting some of the perennials and moving them to other parts of the yard.

Next week is going to be noisy, dusty and crazy around here, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

Poor Tree

Phase one of the major backyard update has begun.  We have been losing large portions of what used to be a beautiful, huge maple tree during bad storms and we decided it was time to have the whole thing cut down before part of it fell on the house. 

Poor tree. . .

Pretty Much Finished

Whew!  The home remodeling stuff for this year is pretty much finished.  The painters left yesterday afternoon and by bedtime the tree was up.  What do you think of the new wall color?  Here is what it used to look like:

Quite a change, huh?  I guess it's pretty dramatic -- I think it looks like chocolate and was joking Pete that I wanted to lick the walls.  I think it works since the room is so big -- and is connected to the sun room, which makes it even bigger.

Speaking of the sun room. . . it's painted the same color. 

And here's a view from the family room, into the hallway and then the dining room.  The hallway used to be gold:

And the dining room used to be red -- now it's a sage-y green/grey:

Now for a few final photos of the office:

My awesome painter painted my wooden IKEA magazine holders to match the room color.  Now my built in looks so fancy!

And speaking of IKEA -- we got some amazing straw ornaments and I decorated my office with some of them:

And a close-up:

I just looped the ornament string around the string holding up one of the slats and then back around the tip of the ornament.  Kinda festive -- which I like since I usually reserve all my holiday decorating for the main part of the house (family room, dining room, hallway).

I'm so glad that this is finished (well, except for window treatments for almost all the first floor windows -- ugh!)  I feel like I have my house back after three weeks of having workers in and out.  It was so worth it though!

Back in the office

Well, the house remodeling is still underway, with the painters here through the weekend, but the office is pretty much complete.  The office furniture arrived yesterday evening and I started moving back in right away.

My goal is to keep a clean desk policy (although I know that is probably unattainable) and to make sure that there is a place for everything.  My project for the upcoming week is organization as I start to bring everything back into this room. 

It's good to be back!  And the simple new furniture -- that all matches I might add -- is very calming.  Here's one last look at the old room so you can get an idea of the change:

Whew -- glad that mess is gone!

Oh no!

It's 3:05 and the painters aren't here yet.  (They never did make it here last week, but said they would begin the job today.)  Okay, so they were supposed to be here at 3:00 -- they aren't really *late* yet -- but I worry.  I want the painting finished so I can put up my holiday decorations. 

Maybe I'll go start a game of online Scrabble.  They are sure to arrive the moment I begin a match.  right?

*Update*  Woo-hoo!  They are here!!

Progress

We are back at home after being driven out by the fumes for 3 days.  No one mentioned the toxic fumes when we ordered the flooring job.  Luckily my mom lives a few blocks away and has a few spare rooms.  Here is the office floor, sanded and refinished.  It looks so much better than it did!

And here's a view of the 80 year old floor in the front foyer, which butts up to the new floor in the living room.  (New floor upper right side -- old floor on the lower left.) 

And here's a view of the corner of the room showing the new floor and old paint.  The painters arrive tomorrow -- hopefully. 

As if I didn't have enough going on . . .

The tree service has come to remove a huge dead tree from our yard.  This stealth photo was taken from the window in my temporary office. 

Great -- noise coming at me from all sides.

Destruction

End of day one looked like this.  Now, I've never had any work that was this extensive done in my house before and I must say -- the dust!  It's driving me crazy!  And they haven't even started sanding yet, which is the dusty part, right? 

And look at this lino that was under the tile in the sun room.  Removing the radiator covers revealed that the room was also painted bright aqua at one time -- can't you visualize the combo in it's heyday?  (Oh there was a pink bathroom in this house too -- and the little eating room as we call it was once a shocking jade green!)

Speaking of paint colors -- I'm going insane trying to pick them out.  Finally when Pete came home I snapped at him about the colors and he helped me pick them out -- in the dark -- while climbing over all the furniture crammed in the dining room.  Thank goodness for him! 

Office Remodel Scrapbook

The flooring guys are here and are very nice.  Noisy, but nice.  I mean, they are ripping up a floor and subfloor today, so I expected pounding.  What I did not expect was that I would only get about three hours of sleep last night.  Oooof!

So, in order to cheer myself up and see the bigger picture, I am putting together a "scrapbook" of office design items that will help me to visualize the end result.  Here goes!

Ah -- refinished floors!  Looking forward to that.  The current floor had almost no finish at all left -- and there were paint splatters here and there.  They are sanding the existing floor and refinishing the two steps that lead up to the office which are currently painted dark brown (although the paint is terribly chipped and nicked up!)  You can see those steps here.

New desk(s).  These modular desks from Pottery Barn will be along two walls -- two of them will be across the long wall at the back of the room (the side with the three huge windows) and there will be a corner desk to match in the south east corner.  I'm getting the black just like you see in the photo, but I don't plan on getting that little hutch thingy.

Next is white wood blinds.  I tried to find a simple photo on the web, but didn't have much luck.  So picture plain white wooden blinds -- no tapes, but I do plan on getting the routeless ladders (slats without holes in them).  I'm thinking they will give me the look of shutters on the cheap.

Wall color -- I'm thinking Krypton from Sherwin-Williams, although it may be a bit cold with the black and white.  The wood floors will warm things up a bit though.  So here's the basic color scheme:

On the back (north) wall, I need some bookshelves/cabinets to hold all my work stuff.  I'd also like to have room for my craft books, fabric and other craft supplies.  I absolutely love the Windham Cabinets from Crate & Barrel, but I don't think they will hold enough stuff.  I'm thinking maybe the Liatorp:

from IKEA.  You can get doors on the bottom half which is nice.  And they seem a bit more substantial than the other option -- the Billy:

Also from IKEA.  We already have 5 Billy bookcases in the house, so I'm familiar with these -- they are basic and hold up well -- we've moved twice with one of them and once with the others.  But I think I want something more stylish this time around.

Well, that's the plan so far.  You should hear the noise here -- it's unnerving!

Renovation

Okay, so I mentioned an impending office remodel a while back -- but what ever happened?  Well, after *much* contemplation, and some difficulties finding reliable floor refinishers -- things are finally coming along!

After two days of hard labor, the office is now completely empty (except for the modem and router which must remain in there if my internet connection is to continue) and the spare room is ridiculously full.  I have an idea for the new paint color, but I am at a loss for new window treatments.  Any suggestions?

Oh, but this is not the only room getting a makeover -- the family room and sunroom are getting brand new hardwood floors!  Right now the floor looks like this:

Yeah -- shiny white tile.  Ewwwwwwww!  Not sure what the last owner was thinking when she had this installed.  This is one project I've wanted to do since we bought the house 3 1/2 years ago.  I'll also need new window treatments for the sun room which is currently sporting some lovely synthetic shears (completely with tears and frayed edges) on some windows and some dirty and dusty lace panels on the others.  Also need suggestions for these windows -- there are *a lot* of them, so I need something that isn't too expensive and preferably something adjustable since these windows face west and the sun shines right into your face as you sit on the couch later in the day.

Well, the next two weeks are going to be trying, with workers in here and so much destruction and construction.  I'm looking forward to having this done before the holidays, but I'm dreading the part that is about to come.  Wish me luck & a working internet connection!

Office Remodel

It's time for a big house project.  I'm completely remodeling my office and I'm chronicling it here for all to see.  Let's start with the before:

We have an old 2 story colonial revival house that was built in the 20's (photo here.)  And at the top of the stairs from the first to second floor is a landing -- if you turn around 180 degrees you go up three steps to the upstairs hall and if you go straight and go up 3 step, you are in my office.

There are big windows on three sides (nice light -- difficult because you can't have any tall furniture).  this is a shot looking to the west.  You can see a built in right next to the doorway.

The room is long and somewhat narrow (about 7' X 17') and this is the view looking south.  The room serves many functions.  I run both of my businesses out of here, do crafty things and homeschool my daughter.  Speaking of homeschooling. . .

Here's the view to the east.  Maddie is sitting and doing her schoolwork at her desk.  You can see the other built in as well as the shelves that hold all my craft books and rubber stamps (inventory for Stamping Online.)

Here are the plans:

• Refinish the floors
• Replace the windows
• Paint
• Install cabinetry
• Get new window treatments
• Have more electrical outlets installed

Phase one is floors.  I had the flooring company that I think we will use out to take a look.  More on that in the next installment!

No Photo of the Keepsake Shawl

I wanted to take a photo of the Keepsake shawl today because I made it to the 12th skein of Koigu last night.  I still have a long way to go -- probably a bit less than 1/4 of the shawl -- but the 12th skein is the last one, so it's downhill from here in my opinion.  It already feels as if the rows are getting much shorter.  It's another grey day though (as was yesterday) so I know that I'm not going to get a decent photo.  I guess it will have to wait for another day.

In other news, I've been re-organizing lately -- kind of a spring cleaning in autumn.  And I now have pretty much all of my craft books in one big bookcase in my office.  It's very exciting!  They were scattered throughout the house in piles and crammed in various bookshelves.  It's nice to have them all in one place.  Next I need to organize them by craft.  Then I tackle the fiber/sewing room (oh, yeah and writing room -- sorry BoogaP!)

So, no photos today.  Hopefully we'll get some sun around here soon!

Waiting for the plumber to call

Old houses. . . gotta love 'em. I was up at 5am because I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about the pipe in the basement that was flooding everytime we used the bathroom upstairs. Now technically this house has 2 1/2 bathrooms, but that's kind of a joke. It has one bathroom and a closet that was converted to a powder room as some point. Then there's this scary "bathroom" in the basement (which is tied in to the same pipe and thus rendered useless, anyway.)

So, last night after Maddie had her bath, Pete went down to the basement to clean the litter boxes and found a flood of bubbly water (hmmm. . . Maddie just had a bubble bath). It was almost 11pm by then -- too late to do anything but get a bad night's sleep :)

So I woke up bright and early (although it isn't very bright here -- it's quite rainy) and put in a call to my Mom's cousins who run the plumbing business that my grandfather used to run. Now I wait. I hope they check their answering machine soon. . .

More on organizing (the contest)

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far!  I'm getting good ideas and I've already done a bit of re-arranging and tidying up! 

There is still time to send me your tips!  After reading and responding to many of your emails and comments I have discovered a few things:

• My room is already pretty much organized, but it is not "pretty".  Any tips on hiding the stuff I need, but making it accessible?
• I don't really have much to purge.  I purge constantly.  So I need tips for making things neat and organized.  But the stuff that is there is pretty much necessary for the businesses and school.  Here are the thing I have that must stay:  computers (2), printers (2) (although could I get rid of a printer if I had a wireless router? ), scanner (although could I get rid of the printers and get one all-in-one printer w/ a scanner?  The more I type the more ideas I get!), all stamps on the shelves --  which are for my online rubber stamp business (and while they look empty, that will change drastically in a couple of weeks when they will be overflowing with the 2006 stamps!), a place for patterns --  which are for my knitting pattern business  -- in various stages of completion (back from the printer, folded, photo attached), Maddie's school stuff.
• My furniture is so mis-matched!  Do I have to buy all new?  Is there a way to integrate some of what I have?  I've looked at IKEA, Pottery Barn, filing cabinets (topped by doors? counter tops?). 

So maybe by organization I meant hiding or camouflaging  :)  Or just making things match! 

Please keep sending me those ideas!  I especially like links to sites / items / photos!

Organizational Dilemna (or a contest!)

As this year comes to a close and I start to think about 2006 my mind settles on one major goal -- organization!  As least in my office. 

I run two businesses and homeschool Maddie in this office and it's a mess.  Maddie uses an old cardboard Kinko's box as her school desk (well, it is kind of good because the box holds all of her school "stuff" too) and she's getting a little big for that.  Then there's the fact that I have two computers set up right now, but one isn't on a computer desk, so it's pretty much unusable.  And there are piles of things everywhere!  It's a mess.  See for yourself. . .

Western View of the Office of Shame


Southern View of the Office of Shame


Eastern View of the Office of Shame


Northern View of the Office of Shame

So, as you can see, it is a total mess.  I spend a majority of each day in this office and I would love to have it look like a spread from Martha Stewart Living, know what I mean? 

Here are the major issues:

• I have patterns (currently in the plastic drawer thingies on the "shipping" table on southern wall) and rubber stamps (currently on two shelving units on the northern wall) that need to stay here and be near me for work.
• I need a packing area where all of my packing supplies are easily within reach (the big table along the southern wall serves this purpose now, but often gets covered with non-shipping stuff.)
• Two computers -- I want to set up the old one (which is currently not really usable due to its location) for Maddie.  The second computer desk in the room is on the southern wall and is covered with my paper cutter, postal scale (which I use a lot and should have with the "shipping" stuff) and sizzix (which I don't use very often anymore).
• I have built-ins at each end of the room which you can see in the photos, but they need better organization. But how?
• Three walls are mostly windows, so I can't really put anything on them.  This is good (natural light abounds!) & bad (only short things can be on these three walls).
• The eastern and western walls are metal below the windows -- they are actually radiator covers (yep, we have an old house with radiant heat).
• I have lots of files, but no filing cabinet.  If I had a filing cabinet, where would I put it?  Ugh!
• I don't know where to start.  This is my biggest issue.  I think if I start I'll do something totally wrong and have to start again and again.  Is there a method I should be following?  Help me!

Here's where you come in.  Send me links!  Send me ideas!  Send me photos!  Help me out here!

I'll pick a random name from the list of idea senders.  And I will post a list of the best ideas (otherwise known as the ideas that I end up using or learning something new from) on the blog.

You can post ideas in the comments, or email them to me!